Students raising money to help Quincy teen hit by car

Tuesday

Mar 25, 2008 at 12:01 AMMar 25, 2008 at 11:36 AM

As the 17-year-old captain of North Quincy High School’s softball team recuperates from extensive injuries at a Boston hospital, her friends from the two Quincy high schools are conducting fundraisers to help her family with the medical expenses.

Jennifer Mann

Patricia Feeney will be the first to say it: “It’s going to be a long, long, long road.”

Softball is out of the question for her daughter, 17-year-old Catherine Feeney – at least for her final season.

For the senior captain of North Quincy High’s softball team, walking again is a more immediate challenge.

On March 16, she was hit by a car driven by Laura Benedetti, 18, of Stoughton, who allegedly drove to a Quincy High basketball court to confront a girl who dated her ex-boyfriend. Feeney was among about 20 students there to watch the stand-off.

Patricia Feeney said that after several days in an induced coma and many surgeries, her daughter is stable, able to talk and in and out of consciousness.

After spending Easter in the hospital, Catherine was getting ready for another operation Monday, when doctors would put rods in her thigh bones and try to address as many of the other injuries as possible.

“After this operation, hopefully, she won’t have to have another one,” Patricia Feeney said.

Meanwhile, Catherine’s friends at Quincy and North Quincy high schools are expressing their support with two words: “Stay Strong.”

The phrase has been printed on signs, T-shirts and poster board, as students from both schools try to raise money for physical therapy costs and remodeling a room on the first floor of the family’s home for the teenager to use as her bedroom.

“When Catherine gets out of the hospital, she’s going to need so much so we just wanted to do something for her and the family,” said Rebecca Goreham of North Quincy High. “She has so many friends at Quincy and North.”

To contribute to Feeney’s recovery, make checks out to “The Catherine Feeney Medical Fund” and send to the family at 21 Woodward Ave., Quincy, MA 02169.